Hiring presents an opportunity to review the needs of the role to ensure you are able to match those needs with the right talent. Managers are encouraged to develop an overall recruitment plan for attracting and selecting candidates before they need to fill a position to ensure they will not only attract and select the best candidate but do so fairly. An effective recruitment plan can help you focus on important elements of hiring the applicants who best match your needs. The plan can include essential information for each step of the hiring process, from job descriptions to employee onboarding, orientation and training. View the recruitment plan guide.

Departments hire and post positions in various ways. Some use service channels (Shared Services Organization (SSO), Academic Unit Shared Services Center (AUSSC), Distributed Shared Services Center (DiSSC), and Health Service Channel) while others post directly in Handshake. Check with your depassrtment to see how they recruit and how the services channels fit into the process. 

Creating a job description and posting on Handshake

Creating an effective job description will aid significantly in recruitment. Some departments do this with the assistance of a service channel and some without. If you use a service channel, check with them as they may have descriptions consistent with undergraduate and graduate student capabilities that are clear and concise. If you do not use a service channel, tools that can help you craft an effective job description include the Student Recruitment Guide, the Policies and Procedures page and our Basic Guidelines for Career/Job Postings.

A job description not only outlines primary responsibilities, desired skills, and required experiences to perform a job effectively, it also communicates the values of your organization. It is worthwhile and strategic to also evaluate how any position being recruited for can advance the equity goals of an organization and how such expectations and responsibilities can be integrated into the job description. As a result, campus positions confer competencies, abilities and responsibilities students can internalize and relate to real world positions in the future.

A candidate review that is thoughtful, engaging and consistent will promote an effective and successful candidate hiring process.

Use the minimum qualifications listed in the job description as a guide for screening applicants. Not all candidates may meet 100% of the hiring criteria but a consistent focus on hiring priorities can help reviewers stay true to the strongest needs. Attempting to vastly narrow the pool at this stage is unnecessary and can disadvantage candidates who might not appear as qualified at first glance. The initial screening is a “first look” to allow candidates with agreed fundamentals to engage with the process so they give themselves a chance to compete.

Once the initial screening is complete, carefully review each applicant in the context of what has been submitted: the resume, cover letter and any work samples. During the review, be mindful of your biases to advance some over others based on your experiences and not theirs. Beware of overvaluing applications arriving early in the process or simply giving some more attention. Try reading applications after the deadline and organizing them by a method other than date.

The main purpose of the interview is to determine whether the student is capable of filling your employment needs. It also allows the student the opportunity to determine whether they are qualified and comfortable with the position. During the interview, information can be gained that is not only vital to position assignments but also instrumental in understanding future training and supervisory needs. When writing the interview questions be sure they map directly to the requirements listed in the position description. Preliminary phone interviews allow departments to select the most promising candidates for in-person interviews with the hiring manager and the hiring team. Be sure to have questions written and shared in advance with those conducting the interviews. To ensure fairness, ask each candidate the same questions and in the same order. It is acceptable to share interview questions with candidates shortly before the interview, however, it is critical that each candidate has the same amount of time to review the questions prior to the interview. The questions can also be shared for a few minutes at the start of the interview.

When scheduling students for their interviews, consider referring them to the Career Center resources for interviewing. Students may benefit from familiarizing themselves with sample interview questions, which you can also use to get ideas for questions to ask.

Applicant Assessment: Depending on the role you are hiring for, you may want job applicants to perform applicable assessments. For example, if you are hiring for a social media position, you may have the candidate draft a sample social media post. Assessments aren't always necessary, but they should test whether the candidate can perform the vital responsibilities of the role. The assessment can be performed before, during or after the formal interview.

• Decision: Use the knowledge you've gained about candidates throughout the hiring process to make a final decision about who to hire. Consult all parties who spoke with each candidate to make a more informed decision. Consider qualifications and alignment of position with academic and/or career goals, but don't make hiring decisions based on unchecked biases or illegal discrimination.

Reference Check: A reference check is a valuable opportunity to learn about your candidate from the perspective of their previous manager or colleagues. By asking appropriate questions, a reference can build a picture of your candidate's previous work performance. It is the only stage in the recruitment process which leverages the opinions of someone other than the candidate. This insight can provide a deeper understanding of who the candidate is according to others and their performance and behavior outside of the interview. A good reference check seeks insights on the candidate's reliability, communication, ability to collaborate and how they work in a team among other aspects, depending on the role. Having this information can offer an understanding of how this person will perform in the role and whether they have the skills and experience to do what will be required of them. As with interviewing, reduce the risk of bias, and be sure to ask the same questions of each reference for each candidate. Sample questions and rubric.

Once a student has been selected and has accepted a position, the next step is onboarding. Onboarding can entail pre-employment steps including background checks, drug screening and related tests. Following the successful completion of these, new employees are entered into campus payroll, identification and security systems. Onboarding requires a review of several hiring documents students must produce per federal and state regulations. As a U.S. employer, the university must adhere to policies including E-verify and those defining work eligibility. All students, domestic and international, must comply and should bring forms of ID to campus. 

An important aspect of onboarding is fostering a sense of belonging in the workplace. Since not everyone works while in high school, you may be the student’s first employer. Your position can define their understanding of work expectations and professional behavior on matters like dress code, punctuality, phone use while at work, social media posting about their job, scheduling, etc. An orientation to the work unit and its role on campus, its people, processes, equipment required and the workspace should always be an integral part of the onboarding process.

The service channel a department uses for onboarding is determined by their college or administrative/academic unit. Each service channel may use a different process to initiate enrolling new employees into campus systems. Use the process of the service channel you use:

• Shared Services Organization (SSO)
• Academic Unit Shared Services Center (AUSSC)
• Distributed Shared Services Center (DiSSC)
• Health Service Channel

Departmental/unit onboarding can include group and individual activities and ceremonies as done by tradition, schedules or position. These present opportunities to build rapport, meet key personnel, partners, or stakeholders and instill longer-term retention measures. Include the following considerations: 

• Explain department/workplace purpose and goals specifying the student’s role in accomplishing those goals
• Introduce the student to other staff and tour the physical surroundings
• Explain the basic conditions of employment including direct supervisor, hourly wage, work schedule, attendance and whom to notify for absences or lateness
• Explain office procedures, breaks, telephone use, office equipment, access to food and drinks and break room facilities and office attire
• Explain the student’s work, responsibilities, assignments and regular duties

Retention of employees selected in the hiring process is a primary consideration as it represents not only all costs incurred from interviews and subsequent employee training and development but also the time and effort invested by all who participated, including the student. Therefore deliberate plans must be made on how to match, equip and retain the candidate from the start. Initial retention considerations include setting clear position expectations, providing training, coordinating scheduling, answering questions and creating an environment of consistency and fairness. Establishing and keeping open communication is key to building and maintaining trust.

It is important to note that as college students, these employees are not only given significant levels of responsibility and representing your function in their work but they are also managing what can be heavy academic and often financial loads while simultaneously learning not only about your position but their field of study and themselves as students, peers and individuals. 

As such, significant latitude must be exercised on many fronts while maintaining clear expectations of work responsibilities balanced against the time of year and other realities. In general, managing students and their situations with flexibility often yields more positive results in the short and long term than not. Successful student-employee retention often tracks closely with setting up a culture of responsibility, consistency, understanding, learning and growth.    

The service channel will notify the department once the student has completed the onboarding paperwork and what their first day on the job will be. Be prepared for the student hire by having work plans, org charts, processes and common practices ready and available for discussion and explanation as the student begins work. Below are suggestions.

• Be an Example: Model strong work habits through efficient, dedicated work practices. Let your approach to daily work be an example from which students can learn.
• Be Flexible: Understand that student employees are students first and employees second. Though it is important to have high standards on the job, it is also important to be flexible to accommodate academic obligations.
• Communicate Expectations: Communicate the job standards, requirements and expectations to your student employees. One should not assume these are self-evident to the student.
• Give Feedback Frequently: Provide consistent and appropriate feedback to your student employees. Students, like others, benefit from feedback in job performance, provided it is communicated positively and constructively with the aim on student success.
• Be Fair: Supervisors who are too lenient or view students as children are not doing them any favors. Student jobs are real jobs. Treat students as the adults they are.
• Train, Train, Train!: Take the time to train students in important work skills, attitudes and habits like time management, phone and customer service and to handle difficult situations.
• Be a Team Player: As the team leader, develop and nurture the unique contributions of each team member. Take a global perspective.
• Give Recognition: When you see a student doing a particularly good job, acknowledge this in front of other staff and peers. People need to feel appreciated.
• Share the Vision: Have regular staff meetings with student employees and inform them how their work fits into a larger purpose of the department and the institution.
• Be an Educator: To the degree that we each contribute to the lives of others, we are all model educators. Help the university to produce graduates who are successful employees.

(* from Strategies for Helping Supervisors Succeed with Student Employees, UC Boulder)

Hiring departments, units or individuals are encouraged to provide environments where the students they employ are encouraged with positive reinforcements and practices that make working more enlightening, rewarding and even developmental. This can be as simple as supplying snacks and beverages to workplace incentives for attendance and shared goals for reaching important milestones as a unit, group or individual. Sometimes the smallest forms of personal recognition can trigger feelings and responses of connectedness increasing retention. These can include the following:

• End of year, holiday, graduation celebrations 
• Achievement/birthday recognition 
• Promotion and professional development training and learning opportunities  
• Student referral incentive processes
• Student cross-training, peer supervision and peer advising tools

Eventually, the student employee will transition out of their assigned role, whether self-initiated or not. Ending employment has some required offboarding steps and, as with onboarding, these are in part administrative and can in part be celebratory, related to professional development.   

If the student takes another position, graduates, makes plans to leave or simply chooses to stop working, the separation may be purely administrative or follow office traditions including others besides the student and supervisor. If the student is leaving over circumstances relating to negative work performance or another work-related reason, then detailed documentation of the matter should accompany the process. 

It is generally expected that whenever possible, the student employee will give the employer a two-week notice before terminating their employment. Departments, as the employers, are highly encouraged to give student employees two weeks' notice of termination, however, student positions are “At Will,” meaning the employer does not have to give students a two-week notice before termination. Reasons for employer termination include but are not limited to:

• Completion or elimination of the job
• Loss of funding
• Avoidable student absences
• Unsatisfactory work
• Inability to carry out work assignments
• Lack of cooperation with co-workers or supervisor
• Repeated lateness
• Harassing a co-worker, sexually or otherwise

It is generally expected that the employer will advise the student in writing of unsatisfactory performance at least once before terminating the student employee. With guidance from the Human Resources professionals advising your department, a warning of impending termination should be provided to the student. The hiring department should retain a copy of the written warning. Additionally, an employer is under no obligation to rehire a student who was employed the prior academic year. 

Partnership Administration Details

• Policies and Procedures
• Forms and Requests 
• Hiring a High School Student 
• Hiring a Non-UC Student